Ritwik_kar - UX & UI Pathway

[ritwik_kar]

Week: Start of July Session to Aug 2, 2020
Overview of Things Learned:

Technical Area: Design methods such as Affinity Mapping, Empathy Mapping, Bull’s Eye Diagram, Stakeholder Mapping, Interviews and Personas were learned and explored. Bull’s Eye diagram helped us shortlist a few aspects that we as a team wanted to work upon, after deciding the project topic. Interviews and brainstorming sessions were essential to gather information about our stakeholders and their problems. Affinity Mapping allowed the teams to make sense of the huge amounts of data we had gathered. Personas too allowed us to categorize the data we had and helped us move forward with the design process. In the later stage we created the HMW statements so that we have a precise direction for moving towards the solution.

Tool: Mural- For affinity mapping, empathy mapping, bull’s eye diagram, personas, brainstorming. Mural was new for me, but I really liked it personally. The interface is brilliant and it provides a great medium for virtual collaboration.
Google Meets: Used for team meetings and interviews.

Soft Skills: Communication skills, team work, problem solving, collaboration, feedback, creativity, goal setting, planning, prioritizing

Achievement Highlights: Looking at my zeal and enthusiasm, I was enrolled in the July session even before the initial self assessment had taken place(Although I did fill the self assessment as it was required). I conducted 2 interviews successfully- both with ex-interns of the June session. I was able to work well in groups and contribute in the team meetings. Brainstorming and all other design methods were carried out nicely in groups. I also aided the persona creations. I contributed in the creation of HMW statements.

Meetings attended: I attended all the meetings- 7/16, 7/17, 7/23, 7/24, 7/28, 7/30, 7/31

Goals for the upcoming Week:
1:Iterate the HMW statement to get a very
precise one
2: Create rough sketches of the solution
3: Create low fidelity sketches of the solution
using figma

Tasks Done: I conducted 2 interviews and contributed significantly in the bull’s eye diagram, affinity mapping, personas, empathy mapping, stakeholder mapping and the HMW statement creation.

[ritwik_kar]

Week: Aug 2, 2020 to Aug 9, 2020
Overview of Things Learned:

Technical Area: HMW statements were iterated and feedback was taken before incorporating it into the newer versions of HMW statements. Low Fidelity Prototypes were made. First rough sketches were drawn on paper by all individuals in the group. Then individually everyone created low fidelity prototypes on figma. Then after a lot of thinking, discussion and feedback, a group low fidelity prototype was made. We also created the user flow of the low fidelity prototype. Usability Testing was conducted.

Tool: Figma: For creating the low fidelity prototypes.
Mural- For creating the user flow of the low fidelity prototype.
Google Meets: Used for team meetings and group meetings.

Soft Skills: Communication skills, team work, problem solving, collaboration, feedback, creativity, goal setting, planning, prioritizing

Achievement Highlights: We ,as a team, were able to create a low fidelity prototype after incorporating our user research and insights, All the feedback we received was incorporated into the low fidelity screens. Usability testing was conducted which helped us gain feedback from a variety of different people. All feedback from leads was incorporated and the screens were iterated before reaching the final version.

Meetings attended: I attended all the meetings- 8/4, 8/5, 8/6, 8/7, 8/8 These include the fireside chat with Benjamin, group meets, group meets with leads.

Goals for the upcoming Week:
1: Finalize the low fidelity prototype
2: Start working on the high fidelity prototype

Tasks Done: HMW statement was iterated upon. Rough sketches were made. Low fidelity prototype was made on figma. User flow was made on Mural.

[ritwik_kar]

Week: Aug 10, 2020 - Aug 18, 2020
Overview of Things Learned:

Technical Area: Low Fidelity Prototype was iterated based on the feedback we received from the leads, Debaleena(@ddas) and Benjamin(@Benjamin_Basseches). We started working on the high fidelity prototype of STEM-Away’s mobile platform and incorporated all the feedback available to us. We kept our mood board as a source of inspiration while creating the high fidelity prototype.

Tool: Figma: For creating the high fidelity prototypes.
Mural: For creating the mood board in a collaborative manner, Mural turned out to be great. The interface is brilliant and it provides a great medium for virtual collaboration.
Google Meets: Used for team meetings.

Soft Skills: Communication skills, team work, problem solving, collaboration, feedback, creativity, goal setting, planning, prioritizing

Achievement Highlights: We, as a team, were able to come up with a high fidelity prototype that incorporated all the feedback from leads, stakeholders and industry experts. I was able to create a mood board for the first time and understood its importance.

Meetings attended: I attended all the meetings- 8/11, 8/13, 8/15 and a team meeting on 8/10

Goals for the upcoming Week:
1:Present the High Fidelity Prototype

Tasks Done: We created the mood board and high fidelity prototype for the STEM-Away mobile platform based on our user research and the feedback received.